Insurance survey 2009: Methodology

We polled more than 400 risk managers, treasurers and chief financial officers at the top companies in 59 countries. We asked them to rank the best insurers and brokers and also the best companies providing alternative mechanisms for risk transfer.

Respondents to Euromoney’s Insurance survey are the direct buyers of insurance at major companies worldwide. The majority are risk managers. Other respondents included chief financial officers, insurance managers, heads of treasury and vice-presidents. The survey was divided into four parts.

In the first part, after providing our researchers with information on their two main forms of insurance coverage, respondents gave their opinion of the company from which they purchased this insurance and were asked to give their reasons. These are elaborated in our result statistics.

For the second part, they were asked to name first and second choices for insurance companies in categories of price, product range, claims resolution and product innovation.

The third part focused on insurance brokers. Here our select group of respondents named the first and second best brokers, in their experience, for efficiency and the ability to negotiate favourable contract terms.

The fourth part concerned alternative risk transfer. Respondents were asked if they used any alternative market mechanisms for their risk transfer needs. If they did, they were given the option of selecting a mechanism, or naming their own. They also were given the option of naming any company they use for the management of these mechanisms.

The poll was conducted from Monday, October 27 until Friday, December 19 2008. We received a total of 4,145 nominations from 404 of the world’s top companies.

Global and regional results are aggregates of country results. Firms that received votes from more than one country were included in regional rankings. Firms that received votes in more than one region were included in global results.

From the format of the survey not all insurance companies will be nominated, and it is possible that companies are being nominated for services provided from neighbouring countries, or by other parts of the parent company. Please address all queries to kmonet@euromoneyplc.com